


The Comfort of a Sleep Pile

by amidalasheart



Category: The Croods (Movies)
Genre: F/M, eep comforts guy, guy cries, guy has a nightmare, sleep pile, ugga is the mediator for family drama as usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29935737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amidalasheart/pseuds/amidalasheart
Summary: Guy had been alone for years taking care of himself with nobody other than Belt at his side. What happens when he has a nightmare that he hasn't had since he found his new family?
Relationships: Eep/Guy (The Croods)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	The Comfort of a Sleep Pile

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've posted any of my writing, so this is kind of a trial run because I have a lot more. This is rated teen and up because of a couple of lines towards the end, but besides that, it's sfw. It's pretty short because I only spent a couple of hours on it (as opposed to my other stories that I've spent a few hours for a few nights on). I hope you enjoy :)

Ever since they found safety from The End, Guy spent most nights peacefully asleep. Sometimes, he’d join the sleep pile, but tonight was not one of those nights. He slept nearby with the comfort of Chunky’s soft fur warming his back and Belt hanging onto his shoulder. His breath suddenly caught as he awakened from a nightmare he hadn’t had since he found his new family. The image of his parents stuck in the rising tar, sending him off to look for tomorrow still ingrained in his head invaded his dreams again. Wide awake, Guy held the shells on his necklace, running his fingers up and down the ridges on each one. Belt woke up, feeling Guy’s shallow breaths and racing heart. Belt cooed empathetically while wrapping his long arms around him, and Guy reciprocated the hug with his hand not busy with feeling his shells. They stayed there for a minute before Belt had an idea. He retracted his arms and wiggled away from Guy, who only stared at him confusedly. “Belt, what are you doing?” he whispered to his furry friend. He kept walking across the dry terrain, looking for the bundle of fiery red hair in the sleep pile. Understanding what he was doing, Guy crawled over to Belt to stop him. “Belt, no! She’s sleeping,” he whispered aggressively. Guy did not deter him in the least. He found Eep, whose face was exposed to the cool air, and started tapping her gently, quickly increasing intensity, as she was a heavy sleeper. Just as Guy picked him up in hopes of letting Eep sleep, her eyes fluttered open.

“What is it?” she asked groggily, but as soon as she saw Guy, she softly smiled. “Is everything okay?” she yawned.

“Yes, everything’s—” As he was cut off by Belt covering his mouth with his claws, Eep knew something was happening. Belt climbed down Guy's leg and grabbed her shoulder, tugging on her. Eep knew that if Belt was trying to get her up, Guy probably needed help but didn’t want to admit it. She pulled herself out of the family pile and walked to Guy. “You didn’t have to get up,” he whispered.

“I want to be with you,” she whispered back, hugging him. She could feel his heart thumping and his entire body trembling in her arms. She held his hand and walked them over to Chunky to have some warmth out in the open. Eep sat down leaning against Chunky, and Guy sat next to her leaning into his bent knees, looking at her in the dark. She saw a sadness in his eyes that was reminiscent of the brokenness she saw in him when he thought that he'd missed his chance to make it to tomorrow.

“Do you want to make a fire?” she asked, remembering that he didn’t like the dark.

“No. You’re all I need right now,” his quiet voice breaking as Eep heard his sniffles. She sat up and grabbed his waist and pulled him down with her, causing Guy to fully break down, gasping for air as he shut his eyes and let his tears spill onto Eep’s shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his waist, moving one hand up to the back of his head to stroke his hair. He held her tight as if she'd slip away from him forever if he loosened his grip. They stayed there for a while, Eep caressing his hair and back while Guy released his emotions without saying a word. Eventually, he picked up his head a little to rest his chin on her shoulder, exposing his face to the cool night air. He glanced up at her through his teary eyes. Eep looked at him sympathetically, her eyes revealing a softness within her only he bore witness to.

“What’s wrong?” Eep asked, noticing that he seemed calmer.

“I had a nightmare,” he responded between little gasps, focusing his gaze on Chunky's fur. “The last time I saw them- they were- stuck- in tar-” letting out a heavy sob when he couldn’t keep talking. He buried his face even deeper into her shoulder than before, and Eep continued petting his hair and ran her fingers along the muscles in his back.

“Your parents?” Eep asked, feeling more tears as he nodded his head.

“Yeah. That’s when they- told me about- tomorrow,” he added, his voice trembling. “I watched them die,” he murmured. Eep, shaken by his story, didn’t know what to say. She planted a kiss on his head and pressed her cheek against his hair and closed her eyes, feeling every one of Guy’s sobs on her skin. They lied there together for a while before Guy spoke up. “You know, we’re going to have to move. Your dad would kill me if he saw us like this,” he said disappointedly.

“Go to sleep,” Eep said, disregarding his comment.

“But—”

“No ‘but’s. It’ll be fine,” she reassured him. He knew arguing with her was pointless, so he gave in, using her body as a bed. She lied awake until she felt him breathing deeply, signaling that he was asleep. Belt, who had been beside them the entire time, cooed at Eep and curled up beside the couple. Eep fell asleep happily in their miniature sleep pile.

The sun rose, illuminating both sleep piles. Unfortunately for the young couple, the larger of the sleep piles awakened first.

“Where’s Eep?” Grug asked, darting his head around, the couple just out of sight.

“Found her,” Gran replied, looking at Guy cuddled up against Eep. Grug shot up from the bottom of the sleep pile, looking for his daughter.

“Guy!” Grug yelled at the sleeping teenager as he stomped towards him. Ugga jumped in to stop him, lightly kicking him backward to talk to him.

“Settle down, big guy. They’re fine. They’re just sleeping,” Ugga assured him, faintly smiling. Sandy crawled over to her, not fully awake as shown by a yawn that escaped her lungs. Ugga leaned down to pick her up.

“Hmph.”

“You know, Grug, we’ll need to give them space eventually,” Ugga added.

“Why?” he retorted.

“You know why. Last night was just the start for those two,” Gran chuckled. “Won’t you relax? At least they have their clothes on,” she added. Grug glared at Gran almost as harshly as he did at the boy sleeping on top of his daughter.

“What’s going on?” Thunk asked anyone willing to answer.

“Nothing, Thunk,” Ugga told him, tenderly smiling at the sleeping couple. They all stood there for a moment watching the two love birds sleep contentedly, Grug’s frown growing more neutral with every passing second. “Let’s leave them alone and let them sleep for a little longer. They must be tired to have slept through all of this,” Ugga insisted, ushering everyone away.

“Does that mean we can’t eat yet?” Thunk asked, concerned.

“We might still be able to eat even if two pack members don’t do their jobs,” Grug responded, irritated. “But blame Guy if we don’t eat this morning,” he asserted.

“Are we just going to stand here, or are we going to hunt?” Gran questioned.

“Alright, pack, let’s move,” he decided, looking back at his daughter one last time before searching for potential food. Ugga softly smiled at him and ran her hand down his arm. They all left, leaving Guy and Eep still sound asleep.


End file.
